So I brewed a Barleywine a while back... Maybe 4 months ago or so. It's a big one, about 13.5ABV, so a bit higher than the guidelines suggest.

The issue is its bitterness and hoppiness are more towards the American Barleywine spectrum, and it uses an American yeast, but it's all English hops.

I know what the style guidelines say, that an American Barleywine USUALLY features American hops, but MAY have other varieties. My question is how much do the hop varieties come into play in the actual judging? Will I be marked down for the use of English hops? (EKG & Fuggles)

I mostly bottled in bombers, and only have a few 12ozers to submit. I can't enter it in both categories. Should I enter it now in American Barleywine while the hops are fresh? Or should I keep aging the small bottles along side the bombers (which are aging at least a year) and hope the hoppiness mellows out enough to do well in the English category down the road?